Supermodel Elle Macpherson talks about her travel habits at WTTC Global Summit in Riyadh

The entrepreneur took part in a wellness-focused session at the conference in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday

Elle Macpherson spoke at the World Travel and Tourism Council's Global Summit in Saudi Arabia. Photo: WTTC

Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson has offered up some insight into how she travels, revealing that she does not eat on planes and that she takes a bio-hacking bag with her.

The model, 58, nicknamed "The Body", was speaking as part of the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Global Summit in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

“I’ve eaten my way around Riyadh, the food here is incredible,” said Macpherson addressing the audience as part of a hot seat session moderated by Zeinab Badawi from the BBC's HardTalk.

Founder of WelleCo, one of the world’s most successful ecommerce wellness companies, Macpherson was speaking as part of a wellness-focused session at the summit.

The sector is one of the fastest-growing in the tourism industry. Latest figures from the Global Wellness Institute project it to reach $552.2 billion by 2027.

“There’s always two ways of travelling,” Macpherson said.

“First of all I see travel as a vehicle for spiritual and personal growth. We have to adapt and be flexible when we are on the road. And then, of course, there’s all the biohacking.

“I have a biohacking bag that travels around the world with me and I have all the nutrients and my supplements from WelleCo.”

The model — who has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue a record five times — also revealed that she does not eat when flying.

“We have a 15-hour flight home and I won’t eat on the plane, but I’ll drink a lot of water and I’ll take my super elixir, which is a 40-ingredient multivitamin mineral that I’ll take when I leave and when I arrive," she said.

“I also really look after my mitochondria — which is the little heartbeat of our cells — through hot and cold therapy and I have an infrared light that we travel with."

But Macpherson's top tip for tourism leaders and experts in attendance was a simple one.

“Beauty is not only skin deep, it's also soul deep. The best trick I have learnt is to write a gratitude list at the end of each night," she said.

“I write down something that made me smile or something I learned or something that surprised me. And the more often I am in appreciation of where I am, the more I feel I magnetise those kinds of experiences in my life. And I remember them.

“And now I can look through my lists and say: ‘remember that time we went to Riyadh and we had that fantastic conversation.’”